Quick-acting wrench.



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ANDREW FALK, OF NORTH BRADIDOCK, PENNSYLVANIA, SSIG-NOR 0F 0NE-HALF T0 HELM HICAHILL, OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY,

PENN S YLVANIA.

Quick-ACTING WRENCH.

Specication of Letters Patent.

1*"artented June 13, 191

Application tiled February 8, 1911. Serial No. 607,292.

To all whom it may concern:

Be 1t known that l, ANDREW FALK, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, and residing in the borough of North Braddock, in

proved quick-acting wrench which is, inv

structure, strong, durable and inexpensive, and which can be readily clamped upon or released from a nut, holt or other article to be engaged, with the hand with which the wrench is held.

The sliding jaw is normally held retracted away from the fixed jaw by means of a spring concealed in the handle of the Wrench, and the sliding jaw .is forced up into engagement with the nut by the fingers against the action of said spring and locked in such engagement by means of a spring latch. mounted on the handle and engaging a rack on the shank of the sliding jaw.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure .1 is a side elevation of my improved wrench,- F ig. 2 is a. similar view with the lower portion of the handle removed and the parts partially broken away along the line 1li-ll in Fig. 3, while Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the wrench with the lower portion of the handle removed and the parts partially broken away along the line Mir-IH in Fig. 2.

The following is a. detailed description of the drawings.

1 is the fixed jaw provided .with a shank 2. The shank 2 is provided with a longitudinal slot 3 extending to a shortdistance from the lower or handle end of the shank.

4 is the handlev ferrule secured to the shank 2 and concealing lthe upper portion of slot 3, and 5 is the lower handle or handgrasp which is hollow to slide on the shank 2. The element 5 may be made ot' wood, as is usual with wrenches. The lower end of shank 2 is provided with a threaded stud 6 which is engaged loy the flat nut 'i' screwing up tight" against the element 5 to hold it in place. The ferrule fl telescopes over the upper portion of element 5.

8 is the sliding jaw provided with an opening il by means ot which it is slidingly mounted en shank 2 of the fixed jaw 1.

The sliding jaw 8 is provided with two depending iatI arms 10-1O which are in contact `with the slotted sides of the shank Q and are connected together at their lower ends by a eross-head or block 11 secured by rivets or screws 12-12 and intersecting the slot 3. lVithin slot 3 and resting upon block 11 is a rack block 13 secured in place by rivets or screws 1-1-14 passing through the coiled spring 15 which bears at its upper end against the end of said slot and at its lower end against the top of the rack lolock 13, thus tending to force the sliding jaw 8 downwardly away from the .fixed jaw 1.

Pivoted on ears carried by the ferrule 4 is a latch 16 whose lower end is formed as a loiturcated tooth 17 which is adapted to engage the teeth on the rack block 13, the material of shank 2 being notched, as at 18, to permit the passage of said bifurcated tooth. The element 5 is cut away to permit the action et said latch 16. rlhe upper end of said latch 1G is in convenient reach of the fingers of the hand grasping the element 5 and is normally pressed outwardly by a coiled spring 19 which is attached 'to an inwardly extending stud 20 on late-i; 16, passing through. a hole in ferrule 1i, and bearing againstthe shank 2 of the ixed jaw 1. 21-21 are linger loloel-rs integra-i with the sliding jaw by means of which the jaw may be slid upwardly by thelingers of the hand grasping the element 5, while the latch 16 trails over the teeth of the rack block 13.

The operation of the wrench is as follows. Then a nut or bolt is to he clamped hy the wrench, the fixed jaw 1 is placed against the far side of the nut, the fingers are pressed upwardly against the blocks 21-21 sliding the jaw 8 up toward the jaw 1 against the action of the coiled 15, the latch 16 trailing overthe teeth block 13. wWhen the jaw 8 has been snugly forced up against the nut, the latch 16, engaging the adjacent tooth on the block 13, prevents the loosening of the sliding jaw from the nut. To loosen the wrench from the nut, the upper end ot the latch 16 is depressed against the the tooth 17 of the said latch from the tooth of the bleek 13, .whereupon the spring 15 will slide the jaw 8 down the shank 0 away from the fixed jaw 1, thus releasing arms 10-10. ln slot 3 is mounted thesprin 0% spring 19, releasingA lCD 5 is released from the rack block. Upon the release of the latch, the spring 15 auto-y matically releases the Wrench from the nut."

It is evident from the above that my Wrench is in every sense of the Word quiekacting, being easilyl engaged With or disengaged from the nut, so that it may be used on Work Where a Wrench requiring both hands of the workman could not be used at falli"Itseonstruetion is simple, cheap and durable.

What I desire to claim is- In a quick-acting Wrench, the combination of avshank having a fixed aw on one end thereof and a longitudinal slot in the body thereof, a movable jaw slidingly mounted on said shank, depending arms attachedi'to said movable jaw and in sliding contact with the slotted faces of said shank, a rack carried bysaid shank and adapted to en-V gage said rack bar to preventthe retreat of said` movable jaW from said fixed jaw, and a spring mounted in said slot between the upper end of said rack bar and the upper end of said slot whereby 'said movable ]aw is caused to retreat from said fixed jaw when said latch is released from said rack bar, for the purpose described.

Signed at Pittsburg,fliennsylvania, this 4th day of February, 1911. y

Aia/'DREW FALK. Nitnessesz E. A. LAWRENCE, A. W. FoRsY'rH. 

